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The Rapid Reproduction Rate of Mice

If you’ve ever found one mouse in your house, you can “bet your bottom dollar” that there are more. If you’ve ever dealt with (or are currently dealing with) mice in your house, you might know this saying to be all too true. It seems no matter how hard you try, there are always more mice than you can keep up with. How is this possible? Are they magical little creatures?

How Fast Do Mice Reproduce?

The truth is they have amazing reproductive capabilities. You know the saying “multiply like rabbits?” Well, I think it should be rewritten to “multiply like mice”. These little guys reach sexual maturity at 4-6 weeks of age. With a short gestation period of just about three weeks, one mouse can give birth to 5-6 babies. A typical female mouse can birth between five and 10 litters per year. She can mate immediately after giving birth, meaning mice can birth a second litter in as little as 25 days after the first. This quick maturation process gives mice immense breeding capabilities. Living indoors enhances these capabilities, since they can then breed all year long. Outdoors, breeding only occurs during spring, summer and fall. The winter months are too harsh for successful breeding. This cycle continues until the mouse dies. By that time, her offspring’s offspring have likely also birthed a few litters, which are starting to breed. Look at the multiplication rate above and you’ll quickly realize you might be hosting quite a few more guests than you bargained for by the end of the year.

How Long Do Mice Live?

If you think you can avoid dealing with that mouse in your home by simply waiting for it to die, think again. The life cycle of a mouse makes it easy to see why these rodents are such common pests. While the average mouse lifespan is only about 12 months outdoors, indoors, this number can climb to 2 to 3 years. This is because indoors, mice aren’t exposed to harsh environments or natural predators. Predators like owls, hawks, cats along with harsh winter and summer conditions can help maintain a rodent population in check. Indoors, however, that is a different story. That leaves them with nothing to do but eat through your valuables, spread disease and breed future generations. At that point, you no longer have a mouse problem – you have a mouse infestation.

Knowing how effectively these pests reproduce should make you realize that it can be devastating to ignore one little house mouse, because that mouse could multiply and in no time at all, you could have a infestation on your hands.

How Do You Stop Mice From Multiplying?

So, now the real question is HOW CAN I STOP THE MAYHEM? Once mice are in, the most efficient way to get rid of them is to hire a pest control company. Exclusion and bait stations are the main two ways Batzner reduces and manages mice populations. Training and Development Manager, Steve Counsell, explains that “the idea is always to figure out the method of entry. It’s is much easier to control a known finite population than an unknown infinite population.” Using our experience to solve mouse problems is what we do every day. Call us at 262-797-4160 or contact us online to get a free estimate and move the mice out of your house for good.